Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney was a guest this week on The Players Club Podcast, which is hosted by former Tigers running back Darien Rencher.
Rencher asked Swinney an interesting question – if he got five recruits to build the Clemson football program from the ground up with, who would they be?
“I will never answer that question, Rench, because I love all my players and as soon as I answer that question, I’m going to be getting 100 emails and texts and all that,” Swinney answered, smiling.
Swinney, though, did give Rencher one name – Grady Jarrett, a former two-star defensive line recruit from Rockdale County High School in Conyers, Ga.
Jarrett played for Swinney and the Tigers from 2011-14, tallying 207 tackles, 29.5 tackles for loss, 5.5 sacks, 37 quarterback pressures, one pass breakup, two caused fumbles and four recovered fumbles over 48 games (37 starts) in his career.
Jarrett just completed his seventh season with the Atlanta Falcons after being selected by the franchise in the fifth round of the 2015 NFL Draft (No. 137 overall). He has seen action in 110 games with 95 starts while totaling 359 tackles (198 solo) with 26.5 sacks, 54 tackles for loss, five forced fumbles, three fumble recoveries and 89 quarterback hits.
He tallied 52 total tackles (27 solo), 4.0 sacks, eight tackles for loss, 20 quarterback hits and one fumble recovery in 16 games with 16 starts in 2020 and was named to his second-consecutive Pro Bowl.
“I will give you one name, and that’d be Grady Jarrett,” Swinney said. “If I had the ole two-star recruit, man, that guy, he’d be in my top five. I’ll let everybody else dream and figure out who the other four are. But ain’t no way I’m answering that. I love all my guys, that’d be a tough one. But I guarantee you, Grady Jarrett would be in there, no doubt. Because he’s the epitome of what Clemson Football is all about.”
Clemson Variety & Frame is doing their part to help bring you some classic new barware and help one of the local businesses that helps make Clemson special.
Order your Nick’s barware and do your part to help. #SaveNicks
